PESHAWAR: Illegal digging and mining continues in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa despite Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government’s claims to the contrary, according to a report by a private media outlet. Even in Nowshera, the district of the chief minister, illegal mining is going on and at least Rs303.429 million losses have been caused to the national exchequer due to illegal digging and mining only in Nowshera. The Supreme Court has already taken notice of the situation and during a hearing recently, the chief secretary was imposed Rs50,000 over failure to stop the illegal activity. According to the report, more than 1.564 million tonnes of minerals in Nowshera were mined illegally till July 20, 2017. The minerals included sand used in buildings construction and 243,191 tonnes of cement and limestone. There is also a possibility of at least 782,303-tonne more minerals including building sand being illegally dug out in the coming days, which might inflict losses worth Rs54.761 million on the national kitty. Also, 797347-tonne limestone and cement-stone could be excavated causing further losses of Rs55.814 million to the national exchequer.